I am soooo excited!

I found growing along side the road a few miles from me, what looks to be a native martagon lily. The leaves are whorled like a martagon. Someone please tell me what this is and if could take just one home with me for my garden.

Here's another one......

Perhaps this:

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/mich_lilyx.htm

The whorled leaves....

The leaves are slightly different than in your link, but it does mention Lilium superbum and perhaps that's the one. I also posted this in the Indigenous Plant Forum.

Here's is group pic from another site about a mile away across the fields.

How about the very last bud on any of the plants......

This is L. Superbum's foliage
http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=3604054

I'm sure one of the lily experts will be able to identify it for you! I have trouble figuring out my stargazer from my merostar! LOL

I'm hoping the species lovers will chime in for you. L. superbum's foliage is quite a bit different than what I see in your pictures.
Isn't it lovely? Those lilies growing wild?

Yes.......growing wild!

I just happened to catch a glimpse of them yesterday when I drove by. I just had to go back with a camera this morning.

Well, you've probably already figured out it's not a martagon, which is not native to the Americas, and more importantly (and unmistakably) , notice the way the inflorescence is arranged compared to that of a martagon, which has a spike of flowers with short peduncles (flower stems). Our wild eastern species tend to have (but not always) an umbel type arrangement, where all the flower stems originate from the same point, and the turkscap types have very long flower stems, as does your discovery.

It is must be Lilium michiganense, as according to the books I have (that include Fasset's Spring Flora of Wisconsin (updated 4th edition), L. superbum doesn't grow wild in Wisconsin. Really, the only difference seems to be size, that I have been able to ascertain, with superbum growing much larger. (8-10ft is not unusual in a garden setting.) I don't think I could tell them apart with certainty otherwise. The foliage seems rather robust compared to the michiganense specimens I have seen in the wild, though.

I do remember the excitement I had (and still have) when I found my first wild Liliums michiganense and philadelphicum. Lilterally awesome! I am glad someone else shares my zeal. Michiganense (and philadelphicum) is fairly diverse in color and shape. This is one of mine, grown from Prairie Moon nursery seed. Of course, in a garden setting it readily adapts, and grows to more "beauty" than in the wild.

I think it is michiganense. Why not go back and self the blossoms. When you have seed pods almost ready to open, why not collect the seed. Sprinkle some around that plant and let other people enjoy it too. Then start the seed yourself.

inanda

oooo, what a nice find. I'm only beginning to find out about propagating these native lilies. I've included some links that I've bookmarked for myself for when I find some specimens to propagate from:

The North American Lily Society (NALS) has some good info on their site:
This link has detailed info about lilies -- stem bulblets, bulbils, scales ...
http://lilies.org/propagation.html
I'd never heard of "aerial bulbils" which are produced along the stems of tiger lilies. Planting bulbils will produce bulbs "after a couple of years" and will then grow.

Growing from seed:
http://lilies.org/growingfromseed.html

Their site has more info that I can digest right now, but I found it interesting that there are things other than "seeds" which you can harvest to grow lilies from. Worth poking around the roots to see if there are extra bulblets which you could harvest without damaging that plant. Also the "bulbils" may appear later on the stems -- anyone know when to look for these?

I'm keeping my eyes open for turks cap lilies:
http://www.ncwildflower.org/plants/lilium_superbum/lilium_superbum.htm

good luck,
Mary

Thanks for all of the information. I probably should haven mentioned the size. The flowers were smaller than a golf ball and the tallest stem was maybe 2', with most being 12 - 18". Great idea about selfing the blossoms. There was still one waiting to open and it is in the group that is the closest to my home and luckily does not have a steep ditch between it and the road. The others were not easy to get to even though they were near the road. Next time I will be wearing long pants and not shorts.

Ah Marie, I have visions of you in a pith helmet scouring the ditches of West Central, Wisconsin in search of the elusive native lilium! :) You need a monkey to complete this vision. :) LOL

Marie, great picture. I love the farm in the background. Is it yours or next door?

Selfing lilies, not a productive idea because most lilies are self-infertile. There is always ample pollen and breezes to do self pollinating with lilies all by themselves anyway, should it work. Often, when michiganense stalks are all in a group, it's because the stoloniferous bulbs have spread from a single plant. Therefore, cross pollinating flowers in the same group is not cross pollinating at all: it's selfing. But you could get pollen from another patch of Lilium michiganense and pollinate. Usually, mother nature takes care of that too, with insects. It kinda depends on how far away a michiganense of different genetics is.

Last year, my L. michiganense pictured above did not bloom at the same time as my other seedlings. It did not produce any seed. This year, some did bloom simultaneous. I wanted to be sure I would get seed this season, so I manually cross pollinate. Fertile seed pods are on their way.

Ticker......I don't happen to have a monkey. Could I take one of my cats? I also don't happen to have a pith helmet anymore.

dogwalker......Not my farm, just one I pass by regularly about 5 miles from my home, on a little lake. I didn't even realize that I had gotten farm buildings in the background until I looked at it on my computer screen.

Leftwood......Am I ever glad that I haven't had time to run over there to self some lilies. I'll see what I can do tomorrow with snatching pollen from one area to use in another. I would have to agree with you about them being stoloniferous. They are in groups with a larger central plant and 3 - 5 smaller surrounding plants.

Bummer about your lack of pith helmet ~ wanna borrow my hot pink hardhat?

You betcha!

Or.......I could wear this one in blaze-orange tie-dye. (Bought when I was actually on location. The color was chosen to discourage overly enthusiastic deer hunters.)

OOoh, maybe we could find you a pink pith helmet! LOL That orange hat just isn't going to cut it.. :)

It would be a shame to remove the plant but if you could get some seed that would be wonderful. Good luck - it's a beauty.

They have finished blossoming, and when I drove slowly by the other day I couldn't locate them. When I have more time (and appropriate foot wear) I will search on foot. I would like to check for seed pods and hopefully find some for myself as well as scratch some into the soil in the same area.

They do do the "disappearing act" when they are not in flower, even though the are still there. It is surprising how foliage so different than grass can blend in so well. Be careful where you step!

I am glad Galanthophile brought the digging aspect up again, because I wanted to say, michiganense bulb scales are quite small and rather pebble-like and break off quite easily. On a friend's property, I dug down from the side to take some scales once (remember they are a stoloniferous species). Removed some scales, but I never got anything out of them. They just disappeared (shriveled up) in my baggie of peat. Didn't have any problem germinating seed. BTW, I have four hand pollinated pods coming on mine.

I love wild flowers and believe wherever possible they should be left in the wild for everyone to enjoy. There are few enough wild places left! I'm sure you all agree.